1. Field of the Invention
This description generally relates to the field of wagering or gaming, and more particularly to facilitating the monitoring of activities at various wagering games, and automating the gaming environment via communications devices, for example, handheld wireless communications devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Gaming has enjoyed phenomenal growth over the recent past, with the addition of numerous forms of wager based gaming, the legalization of wagering in a large number of jurisdictions domestically and internationally, and the construction of numerous casinos to service the increasing demand for gaming opportunities.
Casinos provide a large variety of games and other forms of entertainment of its customers. For example, casinos may provide gaming machines such as slot machines, video slot machines or video poker machines. Casinos also provide table games such as blackjack, various types of poker, craps, roulette, baccarat, big wheel or wheel of fortune, to name a few. Due to the large amounts of money, particularly cash involved in gaming, casinos must carefully monitor the activities of both players and casino employees. Careful and continuous monitoring of gaming activities not only enhances security, but also permits the management to better manage the casinos' business, for example, selecting the number of mix of tables, the hours of operation of various tables, staffing, etc.
Most casinos employee a large number of individuals to manually track the gaming activities. These individuals, often referred to as “pit bosses” observe the activity at various tables and/or gaming machines, and manually record the activity. In some casinos, the manually recorded information is later manually entered into one or more computing systems. This information may include information regarding the dealer's performance, for example, the number of hands dealt during all or a portion of a dealer's shift, average house take, etc. This information may also include information regarding a player's performance, for example, time spent wagering, average wager, etc. The manual system suffers numerous drawbacks, including the delay in entry and processing of the information by the computing systems, if any, the use of disparate databases to store information, and the added opportunity to introduce errors while transferring the information from manually record sheets to the computing systems.
A number of systems have been proposed for automating certain aspects of tracking a player's performance. Many casinos employ player identification or “comp” cards to identify players and automated systems for monitoring how long a player remains at a gaming table. In such systems, the time is typically determined as the time between a first reading of the comp card when the player arrives at a gaming table and a second reading when the player leaves the gaming table. These systems typically rely on manual observations to 1) guess the average amount of a player's wagering, and 2) guess the average number of hands per unit of time, in order to estimate the amount wagered and consequently the amount of complimentary benefit to be awarded to the player. Some players have learned to take advantage of these systems to enhance the value of complimentary benefits, commonly referred to as “comps,” received by increasing their bet amounts when the pit boss is watching, and reducing their bet amounts when the pit boss is not watching.
Some of the Applicants' prior patent applications have taught the full automation of data collection for both player information and casino personnel information, in the context of certain table games, for example blackjack. Such fully automated data collection may not be suitable to all wagering games. Economically, some casinos may only be able to automate a portion of its games in the short term, making fully automated data collection and integration across the entire casino floor a long-term investment.
Additionally, many of the proposed systems do not address the various non-gaming aspects of the casino's business, for example, providing guest facilities such as guest rooms, restaurants, coffee shops, souvenir or gift shops, gymnasiums, and/or childcare facilities, or providing other forms of entertainment such as shows and nightclubs.
Further, many casinos experience a wide fluctuation in the number of customers who wish to play or otherwise enjoy the various accommodations offered by the casino. These fluctuations may be periodic, for example daily, weekly, monthly or yearly, or may be non-periodic, for example during special events. The building and staffing of new casino facilities is daunting. Zoning, the cost of land, the cost of construction, and the costs associated with background checking, training and keeping casino staff available are substantial. Casino operators are thus typically presented with the unenviable decision of committing significant resources to building and staffing sufficiently to accommodate the maximum number of players during times of high demand, or risk losing business during times of high demand.
Like any business, casinos can greatly benefit by increasing the timeliness and accuracy of data capture, and by seamlessly integrating the data in its various database systems. Casinos can also greatly benefit if variations in demand can be accommodated without building and staffing new facilities.